


Start over

by Lyrae



Series: Soulmate AUs [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Divergence - The Reichenbach Fall, Episode: s02e03 The Reichenbach Fall, Fix-It of Sorts, Jim Has Issues, Jim Moriarty Has Issues, Jim-centric, M/M, Not Really Character Death, Obsession, Possessive Jim, Romantic Soulmates, Soulmates, Temporary Character Death, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-03
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:20:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23216161
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lyrae/pseuds/Lyrae
Summary: When you die, you travel through time, fall through the past, and wake up the first time you ever met your soulmate.James Moriarty dies, or more exactly, kills himself, but he knows, during the second the bullet takes to go though his brain, he knows that there's only one person he can wake up to.
Relationships: Sherlock Holmes/James Moriarty, Sherlock Holmes/Jim Moriarty
Series: Soulmate AUs [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1656592
Comments: 5
Kudos: 60





	Start over

**Author's Note:**

> Another Soulmate AU? Yup!

Two men standing on a roof, one tall with dark curls, the other smaller with perfectly slicked back hair. 

"You're me. " a whisper laced with disbelief, the quiet voice almost immediately silenced by the wind.

"You're me! " higher, louder, filled with glee and something even Jim couldn't recognize. 

_You'remeyou'remeyou'reme_

James Moriarty

Sherlock Holmes

Two names, two men, but in truth they were one and the same, one the twisted reflection of the other. 

"Thank you. " no lies, no half truths, only dark eyes, wide and moist with something akin to gratefulness. 

A feather light touch to Sherlock's shoulder, the criminal pulling away quickly like he'd been burnt. 

He still extended his right hand toward the detective though, an open invitation, like this handshake would seal an old, timeless pact. 

_"You want me to shake hand with you in hell, I shall not disappoint._ "

This was not hell, but this would have to do for now.

"Sherlock Holmes..." he trailed off, letting the name roll on his tongue, tasting it reverently as it fell off his lips. 

_Sherlock Holmes..._

Jim had thought he had beaten him, had thought the other had been ordinary all along... 

How wrong had he been. 

Sherlock wasn't ordinary... 

_"I am you, prepared to do anything, prepared to burn... "_

_"You're me! "_

He was him, his reflection, his mirror image, twisted and somehow closer to perfection, more stable. 

A second later, Sherlock's hand was in his own and the universe stopped. 

It was just the two of them against the rest of the world, the two of them united at last by that small physical contact. 

James looked into the detective's eyes, smiling brightly as he lost himself in their depths. 

They were strange weren't they? They had this peculiar quality that made their color shift just a tiny bit when the sun hit them... 

Sometimes they looked like the ocean, deep, unfathomable, but now they had somehow enlarged, left Earth to the ordinary people so as to reflect space, and Jim could see them, the stars, the planets, the galaxies, could see them all drifting into the unyielding void. 

It didn't really matter if Sherlock's eyes were like the sea or space, Jim wanted to drown in them anyway, feel the air leave his lungs, watch the fishes or the stars a last time as his vision turned black. 

But well... Maybe space did fit better in a way. They were all so similar to stars after all.

The Ice Man would be a giant blue, with a great gravity pull, somehow looking icy while in truth it burned hotter than all of the ordinary celestial bodies combined. 

Sweet Eurus would be a black hole, formed after a star too bright to exist collapsed on itself, swallowing everything that came too close to her... 

And Sherlock? Smart Sherlock, unordinary Sherlock... 

He would be a neutron star, pulsing every now and then in a fit of genius too great to be completely controlled, burning brighter than anything in the universe, always on the brink of collapsing but somehow always staying whole. 

Jim himself wouldn't be a star, couldn't be one... No, he would be the void, the dark matter, surrounding everything and keeping the universe running while remaining unseen. 

He would fight gravity and stop the galaxies from crashing into each other, alone against the rest of the world. 

Sherlock blinked, his otherworldly orbs disappearing behind his eyelids, and the criminal was suddenly brought back to reality.

"Thank you. "

A small smile, because what else could he do but smile? 

"Bless you"

Lower, almost whispered, almost hissed, laced with gratefulness and a strange kind of reverence. 

Jim closed his eyes, grasping the gun in his left pocket before speaking softly:

"As long as I'm alive, you can save your friends, you've got a way out... " 

And he just couldn't let that stand could he? 

"Well good luck with that."

A smile sliced his face in half again, wide, victorious, his dark eyes glinting behind his eyelashes as he tugged Sherlock toward him, pulling out his gun at the same time. 

This hadn't been really premeditated, but it didn't matter, did it? 

Either the detective was his soulmate and then they would live, or he wasn't and both of them would die... 

United in death like fate had refused to unite them in life.

Most people didn't kill themself to meet their soulmate, as even if you had a chance that it would work, there was also the possibility that you hadn't met them yet and would die for for real... 

The general opinion was that it was best to live as long as possible during your first life to be certain you met them at some point, but Jim was never very interested in being alive anyway, especially if his death caused more trouble. 

And well, if Sherlock Holmes wasn't his soulmate, then Jim did prefer death over finding out he was paired with an ordinary person anyway. 

The thoughts whirled in his mind during the fraction of a second it took for the gun to fire, and everything was so clear during that last instant that it was almost physically painful. 

The brisk air on his face, Sherlock's warm hand in his own, the cold muzzle of his Beretta in his mouth... 

The last thing James Moriarty saw before the bullet went through his brain was the detective's wide blues eyes, galaxies dancing in their depths. 

\------

_The universe seemed to stagger, stumble to a stop before violently going backward, pulling the two men along with it._

\------

Dying was surprisingly boring. 

It had been too fast, too easy... Maybe he should have jumped off the rooftop instead, soared amidst the stars one last time? 

Naaaah, it would have made Sherlock's suicide boring if Jim already killed himself that way. 

So, what now? Was he in some kind of limbo? 

He blinked, shapes and colors getting clearer in his side vision. 

As they did so, Jim noticed his body was moving like it was on autopilot, walking, words forming in the back of his throat and rolling off his tongue... 

Familiar words. 

"So you're Sherlock Holmes. Molly's told me all about you, you're on one of your cases?"

He left them past his lips, the world finally getting back into focus. 

St Bart's lab, Molly Hooper, John Watson... 

_Sherlock Holmes._

A wide smile split his face in half, filled with too many teeth and jagged edges, clashing with the persona he was currently playing. 

_You're me_

_You're mine_

The two thoughts whirled and collided in his mind, interlocking and trying to push past his lips. 

He voiced neither of them though, staring into Sherlock's eyes and waiting for his reaction. 

What would the other do? Surely he would realise what this whole thing meant... 

But when he did, how would he act? 

Ignore him? Kill him, this time once and for all? 

Jim could imagine it easily, Sherlock's hands around his neck, their hold tightening until the criminal would only be able to struggle weakly for air... 

He wouldn't even try to get out of the grip, he would watch Sherlock's face, scrutinize his expression, lose himself in the other's kaleidoscope eyes and smile, smile because finally Sherlock was leaving the side of the angels and Jim would be the one to welcome him in hell. 

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Leave a review to tell me what you thought of this! :)


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